FMC in the News

[…]“(Streaming) is not about demand or the Internet being good or bad, it’s more about the value we put into it and how to foster what we get out of it to make sure some of it gets back to the creators,” Future of Music Coalition CEO Casey Rae said.

Rae says streaming also raises important questions about access to art as more and more music, movies, TV and other art is distributed online: Who gets to put a price tag on culture?

“If you’re paying more than $100 for an Internet connection and more for mobile plan, how much money does someone have for a streaming subscription?” Rae said. “There are bigger questions about the economics of cultural production that haven’t been resolved, and streaming is one of them.”

[…]Over the past year, Merlin has also struck several major deals that run counter to what major labels have been willing to do. It recently agreed to work with SoundCloud, the massive streaming site that has been described as the YouTube of audio while also drawing criticism for widespread copyright infringement. Before that, it signed a deal with Pandora, which previously hadn’t reached deals directly with labels, opting to use so-called compulsory licenses where the rates are set by the government. In its deal with Pandora, Merlin agreed to per-stream rates that can be lower than it would have gotten otherwise, in exchange for a commitment from Pandora to play songs from its labels more often. read more

When the Billboard chart-topping winner of seven Grammys speaks, apparently Apple listens. Apple very quickly pulled an about-face late Sunday night, with Apple VP Eddy Cue tweeting that “Apple Music will pay for artist streaming, even during customer’s free trial period.” Following this several independent label groups announced they would be signing on to Apple Music, including Worldwide Independent Network and Beggars Group. read more

[…]But, as The Future of Music Coalition reports, independent music labels deserve some of the credit for Apple’s reversal as well. “It wasn’t just Taylor Swift,” Casey Rae of the Future of Music Coalition told NPR. “There was a huge chunk of the indie label community that was simply not willing to let Apple have a free pass.”

Current copyright royalty formulas rest on a legal framework that dates back to the early part of last century, and “the time is ripe to question the existing paradigm,” U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante said in a 245-page February report on “Copyright and the Music Marketplace.”

The copyright board’s proceeding covers the bulk of payments to recording artists and labels made by Pandora and other digital music providers. By December, the board will decide Internet radio royalty rates through 2020.

Traditional AM and FM radio stations — such as KXMZ — are exempt from these royalties. read more

[…]So, getting heard is easier. But getting paid is harder. Musicians, in particular, have been complaining about streaming’s business model, which pays less than a penny per stream. It’s eating away sales of albums and mp3’s.

“In prior eras, a small artist, or an independent label … could probably get by with selling 10,000, 50,000 copies of a thing,” says Casey Rae, CEO of the Future of Music Coalition. “Whereas if you translate that to fractions of pennies from streams, it’s much, much harder to pay your rent.”

Yes, another day, another Grateful Dead ticket outrage spreads over the ‘net. The latest hate-swell erupted over the weekend as fans started getting their pre-ordered tickets for the group’s three farewell gigs at Chicago’s Soldier Field — the hottest shows of the summer — and others struggled to score the thousands of tickets newly released by Ticketmaster. […] read more

For Apple, its Music app is a necessary Band-Aid. But it might not be big enough to stop the bleeding.

The company announced Apple Music, its latest foray into the music world, Monday. The new app will include playlists curated by real humans, a radio station with real DJs, its very own premium on-demand streaming option, and a way for musicians to connect directly with fans. With Apple Music, the company is joining a myriad of Internet radio and on-demand music streaming services in a crowded digital music space.

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“Apple has a huge footprint, and gobs of cash, but Spotify has already made a lot of inroads,” says Casey Rae, CEO of the Future of Music Coalition.